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Where the Miracle Happens

‘Where the Miracle Happens’, a drama directed by Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya. The movie from Oriental Eyes aims to unite the hearts of all the Thai people in its sincere and sympathetic depiction of ‘Pimdao’, a successful businesswoman who loses her beloved daughter at a time when they are estranged. In the end, ‘Pimdao’, whose role is played by Princess Ubol Ratana herself, realizes that real happiness doesn’t come from external events but lies in the heart.

Re: Where the Miracle Happens

Little miracles
By Parinyaporn Pajee
Daily Xpress
Published on July 29, 2008

A new movie starring Princess Ubolratana is a story from the heart that aims to raise money for the education of underprivileged upcountry kids

Ask rookie director Siripakorn Wongchariya-wat about his upcoming movie "Neung Jai Diaw Kan" ("Where the Miracle Happens"), which marks the acting debut of Princess Ubolratana, and he brushes aside the production details.

"What's behind the story is much more important," he says.

The film, which goes on general release on August 7, is based on Princess Ubolratana's novel "Rueang San Thee Chan Kid," and isn't just aimed at entertaining movie fans but also publishing her new project, the "Miracle of Life", which will raise funds to build school in remote areas.

"The Princess has always enjoyed helping people. Since losing her son in the tsunami, she wants to do something bigger," he explains.

Siripakorn, a member of the art team on Nonzee Nimibutr's 1997 hit movie "2499 Anthaphan Krong Mueang" ("Dang Bireley's and the Young Gangsters"), was picked by the Princess herself to direct the film.

"Miracle" tells the story of Pimdao, a businesswoman who is given the heart of daughter after they are both involved in a car accident. After reading her daughter's diary, Pimdao decides to fulfil the girl's wishes and moves to the north of the country to help underprivileged kids.

There she meets Dr Phobtham (Sukolawat Kanaros) and Nil (Siraphan Wattnajinda), a volunteer teacher at the remote school, who is sceptical about Pimdao's motives.

Have an open mind

"I hope the film will help the audience understand more about the Princess and the project," he says.

"I realise some people might have preconceived ideas and refuse to see the film. I would ask them to keep an open mind, to come to theatres and if they don't like the movie, to blame me."

The director attempts to add credibility to the Princess' acting abilities by adding some dramatic scenes, such as the one where Nil shouts at the older Pimdao.

"I want to break down some walls. The Princess has worked very hard at her acting. These scenes could not happen unless she believed she was Pimdao at that moment," says the director.

Re: Where the Miracle Happens

Filmmaker Sirippakorn Wongchariyawat talks about the unique experience of directing Princess Ubolratana in her cinematic debut

KONG RITHDEE
Bangkok Post
August 01, 2008

It is not easy writing about a film starring a princess, but it is certainly much harder directing a film starring a princess in the leading role. A film shoot is generally a demanding, labour-intensive routine with a series of standard and unforeseen conditions imposed on the crew and actors.

When your leading lady is a member of the royal family, when the day's shoot involves camouflaged soldiers hiding in the nearby forest for security reasons, when a central dramatic scene entails that another character points an accusing finger and shouts abuse at the royal actress - with these conditions, you know you're in for a unique directorial experience that even Spielberg knows nothing about.

The director in this case is Sirippakorn Wongchariyawat. The film is called Nueng Jai Diew Kan, or Where the Miracle Happens, which is based on a novella by Princess Ubolratana and which features the Princess as the key member of the cast. After evading the radar of publicity during its shoot last year, the movie has rolled out a sweeping PR blitz across the nation since late June, including the tagline "Film of the Year", to pave the path for its theatrical opening on August 7.

Sirippakorn is aware of the burden and the challenge, not just of telling the Princess what to do in front of the camera, but of the imaginary wall that audiences, having trained themselves to buy into the trick of cinema's constructed reality, might erect against the unfamiliar nature of his movie's human ingredients. "Please do not rush to judge the movie by the names of its cast," says Sirippakorn. "If you have built a wall, it means you're questioning something, and the only way to answer the question is to climb across your own wall. The only way is to open your heart."

Where the Miracle Happens is actually part of the broader, continuous project initiated by Princess Ubolratana called "Miracle of Life", a foundation with activities designed to promote the value of education and support not just clever students, but also "good" students.

Serving the Princess on the project from the beginning, Sirippakorn, a freelance advertising creative and production designer for movies and commercials, has pondered the possibilities of communicating the message of the "Miracle of Life" through different media. He believed that a movie can produce a strong and long-lasting impact on the public because of its role as a serious medium compared to television, so he proceeded to adapt the Princess's book into a screenplay, with close consultation with the royal daughter throughout. The film was made through money raised from various organisations and government offices and is said to have cost around 30 million baht.

In the book - obviously inspired by the Princess's tragic loss of her son Khun Poom Jansen when the tsunami hit Phuket in 2004 - the main character is Pimdao, a businesswoman who loses her daughter in a car accident. Pimdao is seriously injured, but survives after the doctor puts her daughter's beating heart to replace her dying one. To fulfill the philanthropic wish of her child, Pimdao travels to a remote school in Chiang Rai (the film was shot in Chiang Mai) and tries to help the rural teachers develop proper educational facilities for poor children. The drama surfaces when some of the locals doubt her true intentions and Pimdao has to prove herself while her new heart begins to weaken.

"From the beginning, I wrote the screenplay with the goal of using the film to carry the message of the book and the foundation, but I never thought of casting the Princess as Pimdao," says Sirippakorn. "But who else could have played her? It would have been unbecoming of me to tell the Princess to take the role, so I simply told her that the best person to be Pimdao is the person who shares her loss, the one who understands this character completely.

"She understood and agreed to be in the film, on the condition that we all worked together as a team, with me having the final decision. On my part, I asked her to understand my position, and that to be able to create this movie, she had to work according to the culture of film shooting, which involves a lot of people - her schedule to shoot is important, but so are other actors'. She understood my point that it would be a tough job, that she needed to be coached by an acting teacher, and that the movie had to be smaller than we first imagined. It would be an intimate drama, not an epic."

Even with the graciousness of the Princess, Sirippakorn admits that he felt three things during the entire process: fear, worry and stress. After all, this is the first time a royal personage is a main character in a feature film that deals with genuine drama and human emotions. (Princess Ubolratana has had experience doing TV series before). He was aware that if something went wrong, it would leave a spot on the Princess's aura, not his.

But most of all, the director was concerned by the pressure, as all directors are, of creating the kind of realism that the audience can believe in, and to honestly create the character that has a life of its own and demythify the off-screen status and regality of his principle performer. In short, he had to bring down the wall. Normally it would be a sacrilege to set out to make a princess a mere human, a mortal soul inhabiting the alternate universe of the cinema, but in this case it was a duty entrusted upon him by the Princes herself. Sirippakorn had to prove his ability to do that, and then to also prove that he can convince the viewers to see the same.

One scene in the film is central to this. Having already been played as a trailer to the surprise of theatre-goers, the scene has actress Sirapan Watanajinda, playing a tomboy teacher, screaming and pointing at Pimdao in a fit of moral outrage - intense and real. "This woman is not sincere," she hollers, before heaping more abuse on her older co-star. From this side of the screen, this is the first time we see a commoner yell at a princess, and by screening it, that action becomes a repeated public event for all to see.

In a behind-the-scene clip, we see Sirapan, after the director calls "cut", quickly drop to her knees to ask for forgiveness from the Princess. Sirippakorn said it took him three takes to nail the scene, meaning the acts of shouting and asking for forgiveness repeat themselves three times.

"I intended that scene to show that Pimdao is a character, a human being," he says. "This is the scene that breaks down the wall of audience prejudice. I was concerned, of course, whether viewers will buy the character Pimdao, and this is meant to achieve that."

Seeing is believing. The myth of cinema, like all other myths, derives its dramatic power from the collective willingness of the audience to suspend the burden of reality and to believe and Where the Miracle Happens presents a daring test both for the director and viewers alike. Can we believe that a princess, at least for two hours, is a person, a grieving mother, a woman tested by fate? Beyond those questions, Sirippakorn admits that the film has grown on him. That is, after spending time shooting with real rural children and serving the Princess, the cause that she has been fighting for has begun to have a real significance for him. To push it a little, he's started to believe that a miracle can indeed happen for children who have the potential but not the opportunity. Now he's talking about something beyond the rhetorical myth of cinema.

"It's great if you can come to see the film," he says laughing, fully aware of his hard-sell approach. "But if you can't then wait for the DVD. But try to see it anyway. I believe that its essence is important to us, because it's about giving, and about knowing yourself."

Re: Where the Miracle Happens

You should see her "Talk To Princess" TV show (every Thur?) then. I think she has a talk show everyday on cable too where she read mails from the peasants from "I've no money to go to school" to "my father is a drunkard" where she'll give advice. All very surreal. I watched it whenever I can. Quite entertaining.

Re: Where the Miracle Happens

I went to see this movie the other day. Although it was the first wekeend, the cinema was only a third full. As many of you probably know, many Thai movies are not only badly written, but they are poorly executed. Many of them are "made for tv" quality and have the same tired formula. Rarely do we seen anything orginal or worthy of showing in international film festivals. The movie "Nueng Jai... Diaw Kan (Where the Miracle Happens)" was obviously cast in a different mould. It is by far the best Thai movie of the year and should be on everyone's list of "must-see" movies. I am not often moved when I watch movies, but I am not ashamed to say I was wiping tears from my eyes for much of this movie. Although there were some plot holes here and there, the performance by Princess Ubolratana was impeccable. No doubt a very good debut performance.